Previously on Storm Clouds

Beckett quickly hurried over to the interrogation room and opened the door.

"Hi," she tried to offer the man a brief smile.

"What now? Am I now going to go to jail and become someone's bitch?"

"Dad!"

"Alexis."

"I thought you might like a visitor," Beckett told him as she walked towards him. She then reached down and unlocked his cuffs.

"Am I being released?" he asked.

Beckett shook her head. "No, but I figured this might make it easier to hug your daughter."

"It's okay Dad. Kate is nice. She wants to help."

"Yo Beckett. What are you doing?"

Beckett looked up from her screen. "Hey Espo. Did you get a hold of Castle's mother?"

"Castle?" Esposito asked as he sat on the corner of her desk.

Beckett rolled her eyes at her partner. "He said drop the Mr act, so I did. So did you contact his mother?"

"We found the retreat where she is staying. It's out in the middle of the woods with no phone or internet access. The local police are on their way there to speak to his mother. They said they'd call."

Beckett nodded and then continued flicking through pictures on her screen.

"Where is Ryan?"

"In the conference room. He's on the computer with some officers at the scene. They're going over the room again looking for that noise he apparently heard."

Beckett looked up at him. "Apparently?"

"Look Beckett I know you have a bit of a crush on this dude."

Beckett tried to laugh it off. "Crush. Please Esposito, I don't have a crush."

"Beckett. I wasn't born last night"

Beckett shrugged. "Esposito, he is innocent until proven guilty. Or did you forget that?"

Esposito shrugged. "Beckett, was he found standing over the body?"

"Hey Beckett I got something?" Ryan yelled across the room.

"I wasn't aware you had a case."

Ryan, Esposito and Beckett turned around to look at their boss. A smug Detective Slaughter was standing behind him.

Beckett bit her lip. "Captain. Sir. We just thought we would help Slaughter with his case seeing as we didn't have one of our own."

Captain Montgomery raised a brow at her. "Really. He tells me you're butting in where you aren't wanted."

Beckett glared at Slaughter. "He's being stubborn Sir. He isn't even looking at any other options. Instead of asking questions, he just yelled at the victim and his teenage daughter, accusing both of them. He isn't even looking into Mike Gerstern."

"Who's Mike Gerstern?" Slaughter asked.

Beckett gave him a smug look. "Exactly."

"Who is this Mike person?" Montgomery questioned his detective.

"He is the victim's ex-boyfriend. They broke up two months ago after he tried to get Castle to fund a movie project. Which he refused to do, I might add. He has more of a motive then Castle does."

"Wait a second Beckett," Slaughter interrupted. "If he was the victim's boyfriend, then isn't he likely to be in L.A. where the victim is from? You're just trying to free the guy because you think he's hot."

Beckett glared at Slaughter and chose to ignore his comment. "I made some calls and I'm just waiting to hear back. It's not hard to fly from L.A to New York, you know. I'm looking into a few other things while I wait."

Montgomery nodded. "And just when exactly were you going to tell me you are taking over Slaughter's investigation?"

Beckett stood firm. It was against protocol to steal another detectives case but she couldn't help it.

"I was going to come to you when I had some more to work on. My team is merely assisting Slaughter."

"Assisting? It seems you have been putting more into this case than Slaughter has. I am putting you in charge now, Beckett. Ryan, what have you got?" Montgomery asked addressing the other detective.

"Hey wait," Slaughter yelled. "This is my case."

Montgomery turned to send his detective a scowl. "The last time I checked, this was my department. If I want to assign another officer to this case, then I will. So far, all you have told me was the victim was shot dead and the ex-husband was found standing over the body. Beckett has at least brought me a suspect with a motive. Now you have two choices. Allow Beckett and her team to join your investigation or I turn it over to her."

Slaughter glared at Beckett before walking off in a huff.

"Like I even wanted this case," he muttered.

Montgomery turned to look at the three detectives in front of him.

"You wanted this case, now you've got it. The three of you better get up to speed with it. What do you have Ryan?"

"Video footage shows both the victim and Mr Castle entering the building but at different times. All other people on the footage are either residents or are known guests of residents."

Beckett frowned. "Well I guess it could have been one of his neighbours. It wouldn't be the first time."

Ryan nodded. "Exactly. One of the officers on the scene spoke to Castle's neighbours."

"And?" Beckett asked hopefully.

"Nothing. Good neighbour. But while the officer was talking to a neighbour down the hall, they remembered hearing a noise. It turns out there's another entrance to that floor. The neighbour was pretty sure she heard the door open which is unusual as it's normally never used. Only residents on that floor have a key. There is no camera footage from that door, but the lock did look like it had been picked."

Beckett smiled. "So someone else could have been at the apartment."

"Good work team," Montgomery told them. "Now I better go in and speak to Mr Castle. He's friends with the mayor and I want to make sure he has been treated right. If not, I'm in big trouble. My wife liked my butt the way it is. It's not going to look good if the Mayor chews it out."

"Sir. I let his daughter go and see him."

"Did you now?"

Beckett nodded. "She was really upset and she had no one here. Her mother has been killed and her father is the suspect."

Montgomery nodded. He understood where Beckett was coming from.

"Sir. I'd like to go to the scene. I'd like to look it over myself."

"Alright. Just get Ryan and Esposito to get the notes of off Slaughter."

Beckett looked over and offered her two partners an apologetic smile before hurrying off. They were supposed to have the weekend free. She was really going to have to come up with something special to make it up to them.

Beckett hurried past the reporters out the front of Castle's apartment building. She flashed her badge and was quickly allowed inside. She observed the building and she was really surprised. For someone who made millions, he was living rather modestly.

Most of the officers were probably gone now but LT was waiting for her at the door of Castle's apartment.

"Hey Beckett. Ryan said you were coming. Taking over the case I see."

Beckett nodded "Slaughter was about ready to hang Castle without looking into it further. I had to step in."

"I'm glad. Mr Castle seems like a good person. I know he donates to a lot of charities. My goddaughter's school got a large donation of books for their library because of him. I couldn't see him doing this. He was actually pretty calm when we came in. Kept demanding we help his ex-wife. He was trying to give her CPR."

"So you were here?"

LT nodded. "Yeah. An anonymous 911 call came in. They said they heard a gunshot from this apartment."

Beckett frowned. "So a neighbour called it in?"

LT shook his head. "That's the thing. None of the neighbours heard a thing, and none of them made the call."

Beckett shook her head. Well if that wasn't suspicious? Slaughter probably hadn't even waited around for evidence to come in. Famous writer accused of murder was sure to make headlines, and Slaughter loved making them too.

"Okay. Well, let's take a look."

Beckett walked into the small apartment and saw there were more people still there then she thought would have been.

"When Ryan called, we got them to stay to help look for more evidence. He said we were looking for some kind of noise device."

"Where's the crime scene?"

LT pointed towards the bedroom. Beckett walked over and noticed the small desk and computer in the corner of the living area. This was where it all happened. This was where the magic that was a Richard Castle novel was created. Although there hadn't been much magic lately, much to her disappointment.

"It's just through here," LT told her, breaking Beckett out of her haze.

Beckett walked in Castle's bedroom. She imagined this was where magic happened also. The tabloids had painted him as being a bit of a playboy. According to his own website, those allegations were blown out of proportion. As a public and likable figure, he got invited to a lot of events. Most invites she had received always proclaimed 'and partner' even though they knew she wasn't seeing anyone. She hated turning up on her own, and figured he probably did too. Who was she to judge if those dates ended up back here?

Even though she wasn't an advocate for one night stands, she did believe in trying before she bought. She had once dated a guy who she got along with really well. Unfortunately, there was no chemistry in the bedroom. She had tried a few different things and had even discussed it with the guy. In the end, it just wasn't going to work. Sex wasn't everything or even the most important part of a relationship, but it was vital, or at least her in opinion. Passion had to exist both inside and out of the bedroom. She wanted to have a deep connection in all aspects of a relationship. If she didn't feel a connection straight away whether it was physical, emotional or intellectual, then there was no point in dragging it out. Who's to say Castle wasn't doing the exact same thing. Beckett rolled her eyes. Why was she thinking about sex at a time like this, probably because it had been way to long.

"So, any idea on where to look?"

Beckett looked up startled. She then looked around the room. "Anywhere you wouldn't think to look."

Beckett reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of gloves. She didn't want to contaminate the crime scene. Getting down on her hands and knees, she checked out the obvious first. Sometimes because something was so obvious, people didn't bother to look there. After all, who would be that stupid, right? Beckett pulled out her flashlight and shone it under the bed. All Castle had said was he heard a noise, and she wished she had asked what noise specifically. Beckett crawled under the bed slightly and looked around. The noise maker could be big or microscopic. Beckett spotted something in the corner and shimmied further under the bed. It was black and... Beckett sighed as she grabbed it.

A sock.

Maybe odd socks weren't eaten by the dryer monster after all.

"You find anything Beckett?"

Beckett hit her head on the underside of the bed.

"Ouch. Thanks LT."

Beckett slid backwards from under the bed. "Just a sock,"

She held up the offending article. LT held up a plastic evidence bag.

"Hey, you never know. The killer could have lost a sock."

Beckett looked over at the bed. The sheets had been stripped and all that was left was a bare mattress. No blood had seeped through, so she hadn't been there long.

"Just out of curiosity, do you know if the victim showed signs of sexual assault?"

LT shook his head. "Nope."

"No, no sex. Or no, you don't know."

"No sex," LT told her. "And there was no semen on the sheets either."

Beckett raised her brows at that. Well, that was surprising. So either the tabloids got it wrong, or he took his conquests elsewhere. Or, maybe he was just safe. Why was she thinking about sex again?

Beckett looked over the room. A bug could be anywhere. She looked in the bedside drawer, the lamp, the head board. Nothing. Beckett stood back and looked over the room. Her eyes landed on a large print of a lion. Well, wasn't that a bit in your face. If she had been invited home to a man's bedroom and walked in and saw that, she would probably walk right back out. It just seemed so aggressive. So macho.

Beckett looked over the scene and bit her lip. This wasn't a random murder. Someone had killed Meredith for a reason and if her theory was correct, had planned on framing Castle. This murder was personal. Beckett glanced around the room, then decided to make a closer inspection of the picture. When she looked around the room, her eyes kept landing on it. She lifted the corner and looked under the frame. There was nothing on the wall or on the underside of the frame. Beckett carefully let go of the frame. It probably cost thousands of dollars, so she should be careful with it. Taking one last glance at the picture, Beckett noticed a fly sitting right on the lion's eyes. She didn't know why but she attempted to swap the fly away. The lion wasn't alive, but seeing the fly sitting on its eye bugged her. No pun intended. The fly didn't move. Oh, so it was one of those strong willed flies. Beckett swiped at it again but still it didn't move. Beckett took a step closer to the frame and really looked at the fly.

"LT get over here."

"You find something Beckett?"

"Maybe. What is that on the lion's eye."

LT took a closer look. "You're brilliant Beckett."

Beckett smiled. "Get someone to look at this."

She continued to look over the room. A black thing on a picture could be the evidence they needed, or it could just be a black thing.

"Make sure they dust for prints around it, too. I can see something on the glass."

"You got it."

Beckett pulled her cell from her pocket when it started to ring. It was Esposito and she hoped he had something.

"What you got Esposito?"

"An inkling you will never let me live this down. I think you're right about Castle."

Beckett walked out of Castle's bedroom.

"Why? What did you find?"

"Ryan was bugging me so I went to go sit at your desk and make some calls. I saw the photos you were looking at."

Beckett frowned. "The ones from the latest sightings of Richard Castle site."

"Yeah. I won't even go into the fact that you were logged in. That's for another day. Anyway, I decided to look at a few of the photos. Castle and his daughter. Castle with the victim. Castle with some blonde lady."

"That is his second ex-wife and publisher." She remembered seeing that photo.

"She isn't the interesting one, though."

Beckett bit her lip. He had something, didn't he? Why did he have to procrastinate?

"Who else was in the photos Espo?"

"A guy with long black hair. He's in a few of them and he looks like he was stalking Castle."

"Did you show the photos to Castle?"

"Yeah. He didn't recognise him, but his daughter did."

"Spit it out Espo."

"Mike Gerstern."

Beckett narrowly avoided doing a fist pump.

"The ex-boyfriend. I knew it."

"Hey Beckett." LT called out to her.

Beckett turned around and looked at the officer.

"There is a greasy substance on the glass and we got a really good print."

This time Beckett couldn't help but smile. "Espo, please tell me this guy has a criminal record and we have his prints on file."

"B&E five years ago in Florida. He was linked to a few but they could only prove one. He picked the locks and was pretty good with electrical stuff, too."

"Great."

"Not great. So far we can't find him. We got confirmation that he's been in New York for three weeks but no-one knows where he was staying. "

Beckett sighed. Of course it wasn't going to be that easy. "Okay, keep me posted. I'll make my way back now."

Beckett hung up her cell and walked back over to LT.

"Get that print sent off, but keep looking for more evidence."

"You got a suspect?" LT asked.

Beckett shrugged. "Good likelihood, yes. We have photos of the victim's ex-boyfriend stalking Castle. I'll get Espo to send a photo through to you guys. See if any of the neighbours saw him hanging around."

"Okay."

Beckett walked out the apartment building and straight into flashing lights. Not red and blue but bright white.

"Detective, Detective, what can you tell us?"

"We heard he butchered his ex-wife."

"Is it true she was pregnant with his love child?"

"Did they fight over his gay lover?"

"Detective."

Beckett held her hand up hoping to silence the ridiculous questions and allegations the reporters were making.

"We are currently investigating a crime and we would appreciate it if you would please stay away." she told them, knowing her words fell on deaf ears.

"Is it true Richard Castle has been arrested for murder?"

Beckett took a deep breath. Protocol was to say no comment, but often reporters saw that as either a conformation or a denial.

"Richard Castle agreed to accompany officers down to the precinct to answer a few questions, that is all. Now I ask that you please leave his place of residence."

"Detective, Detective."

Beckett shook her head. She had wasted her breath.

Author's Note:

Okay so this is the first time i have really tried to have a case in my stories. Well apart from when Santa's reindeer wrangler was killed. (Check out my story the magic of Christmas f you want to know more). So this whole case/murder/killer is probably the weak point of the story but we all need to grow right. So sorry if it's too easy or …. I dunno. Its not exactly going to be a puzzler. I did it as best as I could. Thanks for reading